


The Boshin War Part 1

by Legume_Shadow



Series: Echoes: A Peacemaker Kurogane/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover [15]
Category: Peacemaker Kurogane, Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Author Loves Writing the Meiji Revolution, Gen, Saitou Took Over my Series!, War is hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-03
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 06:53:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/989047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legume_Shadow/pseuds/Legume_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Battle of Toba-Fushimi, as told from the eyes of the Shinsengumi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First Publishing: AO3, Oct 2013. All copyrights apply to the appropriate parties and no profit is being made from this fanwork.

**Part 11: The Boshin War Part 1**

**Chapter 11.0**

_Year: January 27_ _th_ _– 30_ _th_ _, 1868_

 

_January 27_ _th_ _, 1868…_

 

Tense. They were all on edge, even if they did not show it through their expressions and confident stances. They had the superior number in their armies, they had more swords than the rebels, and best of all they had the famed Shinsengumi among their ranks. But Susumu could read it in all of them, including the commander and vice-commander, both of whom were sitting tall and proud on their horses. The rest of them were arrayed in columns and files according to the overall division they were assigned to. With the dissolution of the Eighth Unit and the members being integrated into other Shinsengumi units, Commander Kondou had control over Second, Fourth, and Tenth units, while Hijikata commanded First, Seventh, and Ninth units. Surprisingly, Saitou had been unilaterally made commander of the Third, Fifth, and Sixth units by Kondou. Susumu had heard that there had been some contention over that assignment, but everyone was too on edge to let it spin up too much, though the grumblings had not died down yet.

Susumu could tell that the discontent was not mainly directed towards Saitou or his character, due to the fact that since even before last spring, there had been quite a few decisions that Kondou had made by himself without consulting anyone else, especially Hijikata over them. Several key decisions had included the assassination of Takeda Kanryuusai, the raiding of Aburakoji, along with a his most recent petition to several Shinsengumi captains to become his retainers. Most had angrily refused.

 _The natives are getting restless_ , he thought to himself as he refocused his attention on the expanse that was after the last row of houses in the sleepy little village that was bisected by a river connecting one side of the village to the other. The river that separated the Shogunate forces from what looked like garrisoned rebel forces on the other side was swollen from the melting snow, though there were still floating patches of ice being carried downstream. There were two bridges, one directly on the road they were on, and another down a ways, connecting this side to the other.

The sun was high in the sky, but the temperature was still bitterly cold enough that he could see his breath even under his head mask. The layers he wore were not enough to combat the cold, but were flexible enough so that he could move as freely as he could. Speed was his ally, and once he started moving, he knew that he would warm up. But that was only if the rebel forces garrisoned on the other side would be obstinate and not let them into Kyoto. He would also have to be careful and make sure that if it came to drawing blades, his short blade would not stick to the scabbard because of the cold.

“Yamazaki, Shimada, and Matsumoto,” he heard Kondou rumble and turned slightly from where he was standing. “Go assist the others in securing that bridge.” The way that Kondou was gesturing was towards the far bridge and behind him, he heard the other groups of shinobi that had been embedded within the Aizu forces slip back, headed for the inner parts of the village to make it to the bridge without the enemy seeing them.

“Yes, sir,” the three of them said in near-unison.

He slipped away from the relative warmth of the groups of forces and sprinted to catch up with the other shinobi. Their near-silent pitter-patter of feet on the light-snow-covered ground was barely heard. Susumu did not draw his weapon just yet, for even with the weak winter sun, the glint of sunlight flickering off metal would give away their position and intent.

At the end of the long road that most of the shinobi were running on was an abandoned stable. He along with a couple of others ducked into the stable to the road that would lead them to the bridge. Peeking slightly out, he squinted and tried to see if there was any garrisoned forces on the other side, but from this vantage point, he couldn't tell. He heard someone scrabbling up the tree that was just outside of the stable and saw a precariously perched shinobi angle himself so that he wasn't too visible. A moment later, the shinobi climbed back down and the rest of them, numbering only fifteen in total, gathered in the drafty stable, waiting for the report.

“There's a small garrison of only about ten men armed with rifles and pikes. Two of the men are manning an Armstrong,” the shinobi stated. “The bridge is exposed, but it looks like they're not expecting anyone to show up on the small bridge, since its too thin to contain a full column of soldiers. My guess is that its only to secure a way out for their commanders if Bungobashi bridge falls to our forces.”

“If we move fast, they won't see us coming and we can take it, but that means some of us will have to cross on the exposed side of the bridge,” one of the other shinobi stated. There was no need for any of them to say it – if the enemy saw them approach, those on the top side of the bridge would be the first to die. It was not an ideal way to complete the mission, but with fifteen of them and such a narrow bridge spanning the icy waters, there was no way all of them could scuttle under the bridge in a fast or efficient manner. The only consolation that one could give was that at least those on the underside had a higher chance of capturing the outpost than the ones crossing the exposed side.

“Volunteers?” another shinobi asked, crossing her arms over her chest, looking a bit perturbed. Susumu didn't even bother to dismiss her attitude – no one wanted to be in the vanguard. Every single one of them loved the stealth and safety that the shadows afforded them.

“I'll do it,” both Kai and Aya said at the same time.

“I will go too,” another shinobi quietly spoke up after a moment of silence. A few more moments later, three other shinobi volunteered and then there were no more.

“All right, then lets do this,” Kai said in a confident tone.

Just as all of them stepped out of the stable and arranged themselves into two groups of six each to start their crawl on either the left or right side of the bridge, they heard the unmistakable _thumps_ reverberating through the air. It was a sound unlike anything most of them had heard before, all except for one shinobi who clearly recognized the sound.

“Cannon fire...” the shinobi said. “From Toba...”

Susumu swallowed hard – none of the Shogunate forces that were marching on the Toba road towards Kyoto had cannons in their midst. Cannon fire must have meant that it was Choshuu-Satsuma forces who had them, which also meant that the Toba-marching force consisting of the Mimiwarigumi and a few other Shogunate-allied forces. “We have to move, now!” he fiercely whispered.

Without another word, fifteen shinobi streamed silently from the stable and swiftly split up to cross the bridge. Susumu had managed to get his legs wrapped around the main structural under planking of the bridge when a volley of rifle fire, this time much louder and definitely closer than the faint cannon fire tore through the air. It was followed swiftly by whistling sound that seemed to get louder by the second, and suddenly, Susumu's vision exploded into a world of fire, splinters of wood, and excruciating pain.

He felt himself fly backwards and was somewhat aware that he was falling, but then all sensation was cut off as he hit the ice _hard_ and the freezing water that accompanied the bone-jarring crash swept everything to black.

* * *

_Battousai!_

Saitou bared his teeth in a grim smile as he saw the red-headed assassin among the horde that was gathered on one side of the bridge. The rebel army was gathering, anticipating a fight and he could feel the same raw need to tear apart the opposition flow through the people on this side of the bridge. He, however, only had eyes for the red-headed assassin, and every person be damned if they got in his way _when_ the fighting started.

It was not a matter of if – for he knew that a fight was going to start, no matter what pretty words from the Shogun's representatives fell upon the rebels' ears. Not a moment later was he proved correct as the faint echoing _thump_ of cannon fire shattered the blanket of quiet that had settled over the place. Everyone looked around, though a few kept their wary eyes on the rebels who shifted uneasily.

“Fire!”

It was hard to tell which side had shouted the order, for the thunderous cries of both sides immediately followed it and charged. Saitou's _ki-ai_ was among those, and in an instant, he was already sprinting past the half-way mark of the bridge, sword drawn out in a flash. He met the red-haired assassin with a clang of swords and pushed with all of his strength as bullets flew past him seemingly carried only by the screams and shouts of both sides.

Quickly stepping back for one quick moment, he threw all of his weight into the first form of his _Gatotsu_ and lunged at the red-haired assassin, who only managed to deflect the blade just in time to avoid being skewered. The force of the clash greatly jarred him, but he continued through before stepping to the side and swinging his blade in an arc, forcing the Battousai to go on the defensive and bring his sword up in a parry.

The bastard was quick, though as he slipped out from underneath the arc, using the momentum of it before spinning around and attempting to slice into Saitou's unprotected back. Saitou was not nearly fast enough to counter the spin and felt the blade nick one of his armor straps clean and felt his armor snap and swing into a haphazard angle, held only up by one string.

He roared, in both annoyance and in anger as he lashed out again, this time, blade meeting blade in the open and threw in a few quick slices, to which they were all countered by the Battousai. Neither of them moved more than a few footsteps from where they had started their battle, an neither of them wanted to give ground.

It was only by pure instinct and a battle-honed sixth sense, that Saitou felt the musket bullet coming and quickly planted his feet onto the slick bridge before heaving with all of this strength to knock the Battousai away, just as he leaned back some more and dodged the bullet that had been aimed for his head. Even without looking, his senses already pinpointed where the annoyance had originated from and swiftly drew his wakizashi from the sheathe and threw it at the rebel who had dared try to kill him with the rifle.

Even without pausing to confirm the rebel's death, he was already looking back around for the Battousai or any sign of attack, and found that Okita was now engaged in battle with the assassin. Snorting to himself more in annoyance than in anger, he turned and threw himself deeper into the rebel masses that were surging over their dead comrades' bodies, trying to take the bridge. Okita could handle himself against the Battousai, and if the master swordsman couldn't, then Saitou would step in again to do battle, when the time came...

And there was plenty of time to exact another re-match.

* * *

“Susumu!”

Kai landed a bit unsteadily on the bank of the river, the hot shards of wood and metal raining all around him as he saw several shinobi plunge into the icy-cold waters, only to be swept under and away by the rough current. A sudden _twang_ split the echoes of the cannon ball fire and he saw several throwing knives, including a wakizashi land on the cracked ice of the river bed.

He quickly searched his own damp uniform and found that all the knives that he had secured onto him were lost when the explosion hit them. However, he wasted no time and skidded down towards the edge of the swollen river and grabbed the nearest shinobi who had been pinned to an ice sheet that had not yet broken off. Yanking as hard as he could, he hauled the near-unconcious shinobi up to the bank of the river before a sudden _ping_ whizzed past his ears and he looked up.

The lone rebel, even though his small garrison has been destroyed by the cannon fire, was still tenacious enough to continue to shoot at them. Ripping the throwing knife from the shinobi he had just rescued, he threw it with all of his might and it accurately sunk into the rebel's head, killing him.

Kai didn't watch the dead rebel flop over and over down the other side of the river bank – he was too busy looking around to see which other shinobi he could rescue that had not yet been dragged away by the currents. Spotting Aya who was trying to haul Susumu off the ice that looked as if it were about to break off, he hurried to her and just as he managed to grab the front of Susumu's uniform, the ice broke off and Kai nearly lost his grip on his friend.

Both he and Aya grunted with effort to pull their friend from the cold water, and after a few minutes, they managed to get Susumu out and onto the bank. Wasting no time, he hurried a bit further down towards the last two shinobi who had managed to get pinned to the ice and dragged one with him. Aya appeared on the other side of him to grab the shinobi's other arm and again, they got the shinobi safely onto the bank. However, just as they completed their task, the ice around the final shinobi broke off and she was swept away, quickly pulled under and lost to the currents.

As much as he wanted to sit and rest after exerting himself in such cold conditions, he knew that it was dangerous, for the cold was already numbing his arms. He could only imagine what the other three shinobi they had rescued were going through, but it was a loud slap from Aya towards one of the survivors that startled him.

“Stay awake,” she ordered the shinobi, who had a dazed look about him.

Kai did the same to the other shinobi, who looked a lot more alert before attempting to help the shinobi up. Aya helped the first one up, and handed him off to the other shinobi who slung an arm around to help his fellow survivor. While Kai saw to it that the two shinobi were steady and ready to move, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Aya make her way towards Susumu, giving him the same waking slap as she did the other shinobi.

Susumu stirred, and Kai couldn't help but feel a bit more relieved before gesturing for the other two shinobi to follow him. They caught up to Aya and Susumu, and it was Aya who said, “We have to retreat. They're loosing the bridge and in a couple of hours, this place will be overruned with rebels.”

It was then that Kai looked up to see the far away Bungobashi bridge, filled with rebels and Shogunate-allied forces, fighting for control. Little by little, he could see that despite the overwhelming numbers that the Shogunate forces had, they were being pushed back by the better-armed rebel forces.

“They'll be gone before we can even get to where they are now. We have to go around,” he said.

“I concur,” Aya said, nodding. “We can also scout and gather information for them, and hopefully, find the retreating camp.”

“No unnecessary risks,” he cautioned. They could scout as much as they want, but the longer they lingered in advancing enemy territory, the greater their chances of getting killed were. They had three injured shinobi who were going to freeze to death if they did not get warmer clothes for them soon and only two functional ones, both unarmed. If the Shogunate forces were ever going to get a chance to beat back the rebels, they needed information, but information that was not at the price of unnecessary death.

“No unnecessary risks.”

* * *

_A hours later..._

 

“Someone's coming!”

As soon as Tetsu heard the shout echo throughout the large, makeshift camp that was between the two villages of Takesagawa and Ujigawa he lifted his head up from sitting curled against the tent's pole. Images from the day's vicious but indecisive battle over the bridge still played over and over in his mind. However, he heard some noise that was closer and definitely within the tent he sitting in and turned slightly to see Hijikata get up while taking his weapons with him to see what the commotion was about. Scrambling up, he followed closely behind the vice-commander, stepping out of the warm tent and into the blast of cold wind that whipped around the camp.

They were shortly joined by several of the Shinsengumi captains and Commander Kondou, along with others curious people from the Aizu and Yuugetai forces. Tetsu stayed beside Hijikata as they and the others approached where scouts had announced the arrival. It was not for protection that he stayed beside his master, but for the fact that he _wanted_ to protect the vice-commander. Today's battle opened his eyes to the world and he found it to be a vicious and merciless place that sought to kill the person who had long tried to protect him.

The wind howled for a moment, bringing flurries of snow from the tops of the tents into the air, whipping it around, and briefly obscured their vision of the road that led into this haphazard camp. When another bitingly cold gust swept the snow away, Tetsu saw more than one person, dressed in dark clothes, trudging through the snow towards them. There were only five, but with their eyes downcast, and two of them being supported by others, with the final one dragging something behind, he couldn't see their faces.

Suddenly, one of them looked up and he couldn't help but blurt out, “Susumu!” So happy that he was to see his friend alive after seeing the bridge that he and the other shinobi who were sent to take the bridge, explode, that he dashed out from the protection of the group. He hurried towards his friend, recognizing the other two near him, with Aya supporting Susumu who had an arm thrown around her shoulder, while Kai was pulling something behind him.

As he got closer, he could see that they were clearly beyond exhausted and that their clothes were damp with a slight dusting of frost and snow covering them head to toe. He was not the only one to approach the five shinobi as the rest reassessed the threat and found them to be passive.

“Here,” he said, as soon as he caught up with Susumu and Aya, taking Susumu's other arm and slung it over his shoulder. “Let me help. Where are you hurt?”

As he took the weight of his friend onto him, he saw Aya nod gratefully as Susumu looked up again with a relieved look on his face and whispered, “We made it.”

He nearly cried out in alarm as Susumu closed his eyes and went limp, with only him and Aya support his weight so that he did not topple onto the ground. It was Aya who quickly said in a hoarse whisper, “He's just tired, kid. We pulled him out of the water in the nick of time. He'll be fine.”

Tetsu breathed a sigh of relief, at a loss of words to tell his friends how grateful he was that they had survived.

* * *

Commanders, vice-commanders, captains, and various people of rank were gathered in the foreign-military adviser’s rather spacious and warm tent, a few hours after the arrival of the five remaining shinobi. Tetsu found himself oddly mesmerized by the intricate and highly detailed map that was spread out on the floor of the tent. Only two shinobi were currently present, Aya, and a shinobi strangely named Yue. Susumu, Kai, and the other Aizu shinobi had been tasked to do something with the barrel of foreign-made smoke bombs was dragged back. All the shinobi had only rested briefly and changed out of their damp clothing into dry clothes that had been scrounged before being put to work.

Tetsu had thought it unfair and had almost vocally protested until a silencing glare from Hijikata prevented him from speaking his opinions out loud. Here now, sitting somewhat close enough that he could see the map, but not directly where the commanders and a few vice-commanders were sitting, he could see the dark circles under both shinobi's eyes, with the flickering of the candle and firelight giving them a slightly haunted look. No other in the tent had such a look, even though all of them had been fighting against the Choshuu-Satsuma forces for the better part of the entire day before loosing their position on Bungobashi Bridge and eventually the entire village of Fushimi and being pushed back to here. Fortunately, the effort in which they made to hold their position had also caused the Choshuu-Satsuma forces to loose many people and retreat too.

“They have heavy artillery lined up from south of this bridge,” the shinobi, Yue, was saying, placing a finger a little down the ways past Bungobashi and two more bridges. He saw the shinobi drag his finger up the river to near the trader's entrance into Kyoto as the shinobi continued to say, “Up until here. They're armed with Armstrong howitzers and Minié rifles, sir.”

“And all of them quickly moveable by horses or by men,” he heard the foreigner, a somewhat familiar-looking man by the name of Lord Creighton, mutter in Japanese. Though there was a distinct accent to his Japanese, Tetsu found it surprising that the still-beardless man had picked up on the language enough that there was no more need for a translator to stand beside him, though he did spy a mousy-looking page beside the foreigner.

“At least one Gatling gun was being offloaded by barge, sir,” Aya spoke up, pointing to a particular area on the map. “We've seen several more barges carrying men and supplies being floated up the river and they're starting to land among these areas, sir.” She pointed to a few specific areas on the map and Tetsu felt uncomfortable as to how close they were to where the remaining Shinsengumi, Aizu, and Yuugetai forces had made camp.

“Daybreak assault is most likely, since the night time snow and frost will make it easy for any to hear their approach,” the foreign-adviser mused. “The howitzers and Gatling guns will take time to position and the frost may stick the metal, which means they will wait until after the sun rises to use the weapons. How many barges would you say you saw?”

Tetsu saw Yue glance over at Aya who answered, “At least ten. The barrel of smoke bombs we stole was from the first barge that landed, sir.”

“They depend too much on the range of their weapons. If we spread out into the towns, we can lure them into an ambush with the rifles and then engage them with swords,” Hijikata spoke up in the worrying silence that followed.

“It could work, Hijikata-dono,” Creighton said. “Yet those who stay in the buildings will be vulnerable to cannonade. However, if we position forces along here--” the foreigner pointed to a particular position on the map, “--and here, we can effectively pinch them off of their support and reliance on the guns for back up. There is one catch in the plan though; we will need a force big enough to lure them into the towns.”

The foreigner's piercing gaze looked around the room, seemingly looking through everyone and Tetsu lowered his eyes slightly, almost afraid to look into those uncannily eerily pale eyes. How could such a person have such pale eyes and not be a demon, he would never know, but for now, he was glad that at least the foreign-adviser was not demonic looking. There was a moment of silence that hovered around the tent until one of the people coughed, startling a few of them.

“I will position my forces and lure them in,” the commander of the Aizu forces said. “They are large enough to convince those rebels. I would also _suggest_ that the Shinsengumi be the ones to spring the trap and the Yuugetai to come in from behind.”

“I agree with you on that,” Kondou spoke up in a grim tone, “on the one fact that I will send a few units with you to make it more convincing. We will then divide our remaining forces between Takesagawa and Ujigawa.”

“All right then,” the foreigner interrupted, placing his hands on the map to prevent any more bickering from breaking out. “We have our forces and our positions. To effectively neutralize their ranged capabilities, this is what needs to be done...”

* * *

_Two hours later..._

 

“Kondou-dono and Hijikata-dono, if you would please stay, I would like to discuss a matter of concern with both of you.”

Hijikata merely closed his eyes briefly in annoyance before opening them and got up from where he was sitting during the meeting as soon as all the others left. Their foreign-adviser had not dismissed his own page and thus he had not dismissed his own. As he followed Kondou those few steps to where Lord Creighton was waiting, he wished that Kondou had not volunteered the units that Saitou commanded for the task of reinforcing Aizu's vanguard. In his opinion, Saitou and the Third Unit were more effective in ambushing than as a vanguard force. Either the units he or Kondou commanded overall would be much better as support teams for Aizu, but to show dissonance now was to bring about a swift fracturing of the Shinsengumi.

“I wish not to offend you,” Creighton said as soon as the two of them stopped in front of him. “But I am concerned about the fact that you have a woman among your ranks. Should she be captured, then she will undoubtedly give away our plans to the enemy to save her own life. In the battles that I have fought in I have heard of many women who had spied on many of my comrades' plans do such a thing. I believe that it would be better for our success tomorrow if she were no longer present.”

Hijikata frowned – yes there was always a possibility that anyone in the camp, not only the remaining shinobi that they had, would defect to the other side. He knew from stories of others' experiences that shinobi were not to be entirely trusted due to the nature of their work and the fact that they profited from passing on secrets for coin, but he also knew the reputation of a few who were of the Oniwabanshuu group; they were absolutely loyal. He trusted Yamazaki, Shimada, and Matsumoto.

Of course, what they did were the dirty work that most would never dare touch, and they consistently masqueraded themselves in various personalities and persona, but not once did any of them attempt to betray the Shinsengumi, question orders, or plot behind their back in the years they served the Shinsengumi. The three of them believed in the cause that the Shinsengumi fought for and were willing to die for with a word from either him or Kondou. They, like Yamazaki Ayumu, would rather die first than betray the Shinsengumi...and they almost did today.

He was also well aware of the unsaid request from their foreign-adviser; he did not mean for them to dismiss their kunoichi, he wanted her dead before tomorrow's battle, lest they risk their plans leaking out.

“We'll take your concerns under consideration, Kuraiten-dono,” Kondou said, just as Hijikata saw a movement out of the corner of his eyes and managed to restrain his page to prevent yet another vocal outburst. “If you'll please excuse us.”

With a nod from the foreign-adviser, both he and Kondou left with Ichimura following behind. At a juncture between tents, Kondou turned slightly and said, “I have a few things to take care of Toshi, before we discuss what the units should do for tomorrow's assault. We'll meet in my tent in an hour.”

“The foreign-adviser brings up a good point, though not in the case of our spies,” he pointed out. “I'll design some contingency plans for our units, should this entire assault fail.”

With a nod from Kondou, Hijikata left and as he walked back through the light snow-covered ground, he looked up to see that the wind was blowing the nighttime clouds back, revealing the stars and a full-moon that was shining brightly. No commander in their right mind would dare to move troops with such a bright moon tonight, not unless he wanted to be seen and slaughtered by the enemy. However, that also meant that they could not send any scouts out without the troops at the river seeing them. Both sides were at yet another stalemate and only when the morning sun start rising would the fight begin again.

He tore his gaze away from the silent sky and almost returned it towards his tent when he spied in the distance, something...strange. Sitting near one of the open fire pits that had virtually no one else around, for most of the troops were huddled in makeshift tents, he saw the familiar outline of Souji conversing with another person whose outline surprised him. He saw Souji pull out his wakizashi – not just the blade, but the entire sword ensemble and hand it over to the person he was talking to. He looked away and headed back towards his tent, hearing Ichimura wordlessly follow him.

Once inside, he shed the outer jacket and said, “Ichimura, tell Souji that I need to talk to him and bring two cups of hot tea, or hot water if there's no tea. After that, make sure you bring the spies something hot to drink too.” It was the least he could do to show his gratitude that at least the three spies of the Shinsengumi had come back alive and with valuable information to boot. He knew that their job was a thankless one, and after what their foreign-adviser had insinuated, his pride demanded that he at least _thank_ his loyal spies for their work, even if it was just a simple hot drink to keep them warm for a while.

“Sir?” he heard Ichimura's questioning query and glanced up at his page in irritation. He knew that it was a strange order, but apparently, his page still had not learned entirely to not question his orders. Fortunately, with that simple look, it was enough to shut his page up from anymore questions as the boy scrambled out.

Hijikata did not have to wait long and when Souji entered, dusting a thin layer of snow from his outer jacket, he noted that the young man had his usual smile on his face, despite the harrowing battle today. He frowned, irritated that even now, Souji still maintained the facade, which he knew that Souji knew that it did not fool him at all. Honestly, sometimes his friend could be such a stubborn mule.

“I hope that the cold will not cause much trouble for our rifles as it might for the enemy,” the young man said in a concerned but still light tone, though Hijikata detected a hoarseness to the voice. That was worrying...

He merely gave a grunt to the comment; sticky rifles were a concern, but with what had been discussed and planned, it would be the least of their worries. A few minutes later, with Souji patiently waiting for him to speak his mind, Ichimura returned with two cups of tea that looked hot, but Hijikata wasn't sure if it was just the cold disguising the cups or if it was the fact that the tea was actually hot.

“When did it start, Souji?” he asked as soon as his page left with the empty tray in hand. He was hesitant to take a sip of the tea that had been set out in front of him, but when he picked up the cup, it was surprisingly _warm_. Long had Hijikata been used to lukewarm tea being served to him, even in the winter, but now…this was different. Had his page finally learned how to serve a proper battlefield tea?

“Pardon?” the polite, slightly raspy voice of Souji brought him back to his initial question at hand.

“You know what I’m asking, Souji,” he said, irritated at his friend for trying to be coy when he knew damn well what he was asking. He held back his sigh of annoyance and decided to outright ask instead of trying to dance around the question. “You and her were close just now, sitting at that fire pit. I also saw you give her your wakizashi. Separating your swords is not something that you would do lightly. When did it start?”

“Please do not send her away from the battlefield, Hijikata-san,” Souji said, his normally cheerful outlook, even in the face of chaos such as this battle, suddenly serious and his tone grave. “I do not try to protect her from war and death, and I know that she will not leave, even if such an order was given.”

“Souji…” he began, openly frowning.

“Please, Hijikata-san,” Souji earnestly said, “let this be _our_ own mistake to bear or rectify. She and I have already made too many mistakes with each other since childhood and this is one that both of us can live with. She and I know the consequences of what might happen tomorrow or the day after – we are both ready for either one of us to die in an instant. You know that we need her out there, subverting enemy lines and sabotaging their western weapons.”

His heart ached with the young man’s plea but at the same time, he was angry too; he should have seen this from the beginning, from when the kunoichi had first arrived at the Shinsengumi headquarters. He was certain that it was only recently that the two had finally admitted their affection for each other, or something to that nature, but there had been plenty of times in the past years that he had witnessed Souji’s friendly interactions with the kunoichi. He had had so much time to potentially send the kunoichi away, but she proved too valuable of an asset to the Shinsengumi that he had never really considered it, even if he had been and still was uncomfortable with the fact that a _woman_ was an assassin.

“I’m sending her to support Saitou,” he stated after a moment of silence. There was no unit where the kunoichi would be safe and thus he decided to send her into a unit where he knew that she would be the most effective. It would also fulfill their foreign-adviser's request that the kunoichi be gone from the camp...at least in disguise. Before Souji could vocally protest, he continued, saying, “It is either that, or I _will_ send her away, Souji. _You_ have not lost someone you love yet. I have and I have seen what it does to men like us. She is neither safer here than she will be working with Saitou.”

“Then…I accept your decision, Hijikata-san,” Souji quietly answered. “Thank you.”

 

~*~*~*~


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 11.1**

_January 28_ _th_ _, 1868…_

 

“Sleep when you're dead!”

Saitou ignored the call for the Aizu troops to wake up as he and a few others of his unit went around, nudging what remained of the Fifth and Sixth Units awake with their foot. The sun had not yet risen yet, but the sky was starting to become light, and he was sure that Choshuu-Satsuma forces were already on the move.

“Oy, get your ass up!” he heard Matsumoto bark at one of the members of Fifth unit who was yawning slightly. Gone was the long hair that the kunoichi usually wore, and all that remained on her head was a short, haphazardly chopped haircut, done by a blade. She was dressed in a mixture of clothing, but at least she was wearing the bright blue over jacket that identified her as a member of the Shinsengumi. Fully disguised as one of the last youthful recruits they had (who had not died yesterday), 'Shinohara Tainoshin', carried a wakizashi and a rifle with a bayonet, but no katana. However, it was a minor detail that no one paid attention to – they were all carrying a various assortment of weapons after yesterday's bitter fight.

The fact that his Third Unit had already readily accepted Shinohara as a part of their group, due to their previous exposure to Matsumoto's disguise made it a lot easier for Fifth and Sixth Units to accept the sudden appearance of this new recruit in their midst. It didn't matter though – they would all be fighting yet again for their lives in a matter of hours.

With his men fully assembled a few minutes later, they marched out of the camp, following the commander of the Aizu forces. As bait to lure the rebel forces towards the towns where the other two, he was actually quite looking forward to the fight – the wolf within him restless and ready to kill.

* * *

Despite the freezing cold temperatures, Tetsu wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his uniform as his fingers carefully tipped the paper packet containing the gunpowder into the barrel of the rifle. As soon as he was sure the right amount had been poured in, he placed the packet down on the ground, took a small wad of paper and stuffed it into the barrel. Then came the small iron ball and the entire ensemble was pounded into the bottom of the gun with a thin rod. Removing the rod, he placed the ready rifle to the side, amongst the pile of other rifles that had been prepared.

He picked up yet another emptied rifle and quickly inspected it, glancing up occasionally to see some of the others whispering to each other while others cast their hawkish gazes out of the small windows. Hijikata had put him to work, reloading all the rifles that they had as soon as they had broken camp and moved into the abandoned buildings.

Absently rolling his left shoulder, he tried to concentrate on his work, but he couldn't help but think back to the harsh words that his brother had spoken to him just before the camp had broken up and executed the plan. It was just the latest in a series of arguments between the two of them that had started up a couple of weeks before this mess. He didn't understand _why_ Tatsu did not agree or why his brother had publicly forbid him to learn how to shoot a rifle. It had embarrassed and angered him greatly enough that he hadn't said one word to him since they had holed themselves up in here.

Fortunately, the cat-like, light footsteps of Susumu distracted his angry thoughts as he turned slightly to see his friend climb up the rickety stairs, expression closed. That meant that Susumu had news, though he, Tetsu, still couldn't tell if it was good or bad news. Though he returned his attention to his work, he listened in as he heard Susumu approach Hijikata.

“Yamazaki,” Hijikata stated.

“All troops have amassed at the location and rebel forces are responding to their presence as expected. The Yuugetai forces have also started their advance,” Susumu reported. “We should be expecting the horn of retreat in a matter of an hour.”

Hijikata said nothing except to nod before sharply saying, “Ichimura!”

“Here, _fukuchou_ ,” Tetsu smartly said, as he snapped to and hurried to his vice-commander's side, warming himself slightly with the movement.

“Distribute the rifles that are ready and then report to Souji and stay there,” Hijikata ordered.

“Yes, sir,” he answered, before giving a quick bow and set about, gathering the loaded rifles into his arms before hurrying down the rickety set of stairs. Whomever he passed from part of the Seventh and all of the Ninth Units that did not have a rifle, he gave them one, and with a quick nod of thanks from several of them, he continued onwards, darting from room to room, building to building before climbing back up another set of stairs to find the First and the rest of the Seventh Units crouched at the ready here. Their ambush was dependent on two factors: one, the rifles that would fell the longer forces that would carry heavy weaponry, and two, the ground forces that would surround the rebels when they spilled into the town.

From Hijikata's plan, the forces that the vice-commander had with him were among those that would be coordinating and facing the first wave of the onslaught. Tetsu knew that the fight would be brutal, but the men of the Ninth Unit were specifically kept at the front because of their ability to hold back the line. Hijikata had then also predicted that when that line could not be broken, rebel forces would break off and attempt to route the town from the other end in an attempt to surround the forces who laid in wait in the town.

That was where the First and the rest of the Seventh Units came into play; they would cut down any who tried to intercept and circle around them, allowing the 'retreating' Aizu forces to turn back and push against the rebels in the front of the town while the Yuugetai forces came in from behind the rebels and crushed the rebels in between Shogunate forces.

Commander Kondou was also implementing a similar plan in the town next to this one, and Tetsu was quite confident now that they had a solid strategy, they would be able to stop the rebels. Now all they had to do was wait for the horn...

“Tetsu-kun,” he heard Okita's simple acknowledgment of his presence as he handed out what was left of the rifles he had carried. The grim look on his friend's face was still present, and he did not expect to see Okita ever smile again; that look had seemingly been permanently etched on his face for the better part of the month, and with the results of yesterday's battle, he seemed even more grave than he already was.

“The forces are already engaged with the rebels and we're expecting the horn to be sounded within the hour, Okita-san,” he said, knowing that the vice-commander would want the information to be passed along to those on the other end of the small town.

“Thank you, Tetsu-kun,” Okita said, nodding before returning his attention back out of the window to the cold, bleak sky.

“Is there anything you need me to do, Okita-san?” he asked, fidgeting slightly, for he did not want to sit on the cold floor again; the run across the town had warmed him up greatly and he was not looking forward to idling. “Hijikata-san says I'm to stay here.”

“I saw a small kitchen downstairs,” his friend replied, continuing to stare out through the window, as if looking for something. “Please go and melt some snow for warm water and bring it to the men.”

“Will do, Okita-san!” he said, and hurried away to his task. As soon as he spotted the kitchen, he cleared a few items from the stone heater and placed a relatively clean-looking but heavy iron pot onto the heater and looked around for some firewood. There was a paltry few thin looking ones, but they were dry. Shoving them into the appropriate place, he searched the kitchen and found the necessary rocks that he could scrape together to start a fire on the wood.

As soon as the fire was going he went outside and quickly scraped a bunch of snow that hadn't been touched yet into a bowl, dumping the snow into the iron pot. As the snow started to melt and the fire burned, he started to look around for some cups--

_Boom_.

The ground trembled slightly with the impact of the cannon fire and immediately, there was the sound of the men scraping and scrabbling up, anticipating an attack. A second _boom_ followed the first, this time, closer sounding and the ground trembled even more. Almost immediately following the cannon fire was a low, loud, and long sound of a horn – the retreat horn, but it sounded much too close to be _whistling_ \--

The force of the cannon ball blew through the building, between the lower-half and upper-half, collapsing part of the stairs and sending hot shards of wood and metal flying through the air. Tetsu felt his breath leave him as he flew backwards, landing painfully on the floor of the kitchen, skidding to a stop as he hit the wall.

He laid there for what felt like only a moment, trying to catch his breath as he smelled smoke, and heard the dim shouts that was starting to be overwhelmed by the ringing in his ears the longer he laid there. His eyes stung, not only from the smoke, but also from the shards that had cut into his face, and he brought up an arm to wipe them. Forcing himself to blink and hazily saw that the cannon ball that had blew through the area had set part of the place on fire.

As painful as it was, he scrambled up, feeling the free-flowing cuts that he had sustained trickle blood. There was no excruciating pain about him, and the only things that hurt were the the cuts and scrapes he had received. Coughing, he waved his arm around, futilely trying to clear the smoke, and started to advance forward, knowing that he needed to get out and into the open before he became trapped in the kitchen. Bodies dressed in haphazard and muted colors that he did not recognize rushed past the shattered entrance into the kitchen, screaming something, except for the fact that one skidded to a stop and spotted him.

Tetsu immediately drew his swords, holding them in a tight grip as he warily eyed the rebel who was half-obscured in smoke, but had his sword raised. Firelight glinted off the blade, and the rebel advanced. As much as Tetsu wanted to back up, he dared not to – he needed the space to draw his swords back, if the move he wanted to make would not work.

Just as he sprang at the rebel, roaring and bringing his swords to bear, he saw the rebel's eyes suddenly bulge out before seeing a slight protruding glint of metal through the rebel's chest. Skidding to a stop, the rebel then collapsed on the ground, dead from the mortal skewering. Covered with flecks of blood all over him was Okita, who merely gave a dispassionate gaze towards the rebel before flicking his sword clean and turned the other way. Tetsu ran up to join him and felt his friend's hand land on his shoulder. Looking over, he saw the slightly puzzled expression on Okita's face.

“I can't hear you that well,” he said, though to him, it sounded quite loud in his own ears, as he couldn't help but notice that despite Okita having flicked his sword clean of the recent blood, it was still covered in some places, and his friend's entire right forearm that held the sword at a guard angle was covered in blood. Blood of the rebels, he hoped and not Okita's own blood.

“Stay close to me,” he faintly heard and saw Okita mouth slowly.

Nodding, the hand on his shoulder was lifted and Okita started forward, half-running, but also cautiously watching where he was going. Tetsu followed behind, and as they immediately stepped slightly out from under the ruins of the inn, but not quite on the streets yet, several rebels charged at them and even before he could get his swords up in defensive position and ready to strike, they were swiftly and mercilessly cut down. He blinked rapidly, not only in surprise, but to also continue to clear his eyes of the smoke; he had not even seen the various techniques that Okita had done to cut the rebels down.

The two of them advanced some more, seeing flashes of blue-coated members of the Shinsengumi flit between shattered windows and entrance ways of various buildings as another tremor in the ground shook from the cannon fire. The chaos of battles that danced in the streets, decorated by the devouring flames of buildings on fire and shattered defensive positions threatened to overwhelm Tetsu, but after yesterday's brutal skirmish, he had no such compunctions about retreating into a corner.

However, that did not mean that his senses were honed for battle either, as he was roughly yanked by his jacket, and shoved towards a wall of a building that had not yet collapsed, but was teetering on the edge of it. He faintly heard the _ping_ of several musket bullets slamming against the ground and wall that he and Okita had hurriedly ducked behind. _Damn my ears_ , he angrily thought to himself; he had nearly been killed by rifle fire, just because he couldn't hear anything. He needed to pay more attention to his surroundings.

A shadow suddenly fell across them as he felt and saw out of the corner of his eyes, Okita react by bringing is sword to bear in an upward arc, only to stop short of hitting whoever had crept up behind them. Turning fully, he saw that it was Saitou, flanked by a couple of members of his unit, including one who looked slightly familiar, but he couldn't place where that familiarity came from. Saitou looked like he had been dragged by a horse for a while; smudges of dirt caked his face which was sporting some freely flowing cuts, but despite looking like that, the Third Unit Captain was not even hunched over and looked like he was generally uninjured. The same could be said for the other two who flanked him.

“We need to get around through the other side in order to ambush them. They're bringing a Gatling gun to bear down the street. Looks like you're having trouble. Where's the shinobi?” Tetsu faintly heard Saitou say though the ringing still in his ears, though the question was directed at Okita.

“I do not know.”

“Take care of it, you two,” Saitou said, glancing slightly back and giving a curt nod to the two flanking him who acknowledged the command and slipped away. Returning his attention to Okita, Tetsu heard Saitou say, “Just us two then. Boy, you stay here. You'll only get in the way.”

“Tetsu-kun cannot hear too well,” Okita said. “Cannon fire landed close to him.”

“I can hear,” he spoke up, shaking his head slightly. “You'll just have to shout.”

He saw the Third Unit Captain's eyes pin him for a moment, looking quite feral and almost inhuman before Saitou said, “Stay here.”

As much as he wanted to protest and wanted to be out there, fighting with the rest of them, he knew that his skills were quite poor compared to the extraordinary fighting prowess that Okita and Saitou displayed whenever they worked together. He didn't get a chance to acknowledge that order when Saitou suddenly turned his attention to the streets, gaze watching the rooftops.

It was fast, but Tetsu thought he saw a glimpse of a shadow on the rooftops before seeing a faint spray of blood from one of the rebels who had tried to shoot at them a few moments ago. Others on the rooftop turn to face the new threat, and that was when Saitou and Okita sprang out of their hiding place, swords flashing, keeping their balance as tremors continued to shake the ground. Rebels were cut down left and right as one of the two people who had arrived with Saitou joined them in their frenzy on the ground. Tetsu's gaze was drawn back up to the rooftop to see the other Shinsengumi member almost gracefully leaping and evading rebels on the rooftop as they tried to fight without loosing their balance. One was viciously stabbed in the neck and unceremoniously dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground. He realized that the person who had to have been dancing on the rooftop was a shinobi, and it had to have been Aya – he would have recognized Susumu.

However, the rooftop run did not last long as a tremendous crash of a cannon ball ripped through the building near Aya and where Okita, Saitou, and other Shinsengumi reinforcements that had gotten free of being pinned down by the rebel riflemen and had poured out. “Watch out!” he screamed, as he saw the building collapse, with some of the Shinsengumi members unable to avoid the falling debris and got crushed.

“Gatling!” he heard someone shout, and the few who had managed to avoid the falling building rolled out of the way and into cover, just as the air exploded with what sounded like a swarm of angry cicadas.

Tetsu himself ducked and crouched into a ball, dropping his swords as he felt the fiery heat of the Gatling gun pass its deadly spray of bullets all over the place, sweeping back and forth as if it were a liquid fire that no one could touch. His voice felt hoarse and he realized that it was him screaming as the flecks of heated wood and shards of metal burned the air all around him. It had to stop soon, but despite his mental plea, the metallic rain did not stop, not until the ringing in his ears became even more unbearable and he thought he had gone completely deaf.

He opened his eyes, and even though he could feel the impact of the bullets still going on the buildings and people, shredding everything in its path, he felt oddly calm as he spotted a dead rebel lying on the blood-covered ground with his back split open by a sword. However, it was not the dead body that had attracted his attention, but rather a small object that was lying in the dead rebel's outstretched hand. It was one of those firecracker like objects that he had seen a couple of months ago when Hijikata had met with some of the foreign delegates who had pledged themselves to the Shogun's cause and had shown them Western weaponry.

Quickly sheathing his swords, he picked up the object and saw that the fuse was still intact, though it was short. Holding the slightly bulbous but still cylindrical item that was stuffed full of gunpowder against what was left of the stone wall he was hiding behind, he quickly picked up a rock and struck at the fuse. It lit, and with a slightly panicked shout – he realized that he would have precious little time to get rid of it. Scrambling up, he waited for a moment until the Gatling gun's fire was swept to the other side and ran out into the middle of the street. The choking smoke briefly cleared with a bitterly cold breeze and he saw just where the gun was.

_Help me, father_ , he thought, and threw the object with all of his might towards the gun, grateful that the money-throwing skill that his father had taught him all those years ago at the temple came in handy.

For a split second, the rebels who operated the gun faltered, and before Tetsu could see the results of his handiwork, a dark-clothed figure barreled into him, sending him crashing back into the hiding place he had just emerged from. He managed to stop himself from unsheathing his wakizashi to counter the heavy body that landed on top of him, as he looked up to see Susumu angrily yelling at him.

However, whatever Susumu was saying he could not hear, but it was the telltale violent tremor on the ground that silenced his friend as he saw Susumu look up and over before returning his attention to him and grabbed him by the front of his armor, hauling him up. He saw his friend say the one word he did not think would be said, especially after what he had just accomplished with the Western firecracker and destruction of the Gatling gun.

Retreat.

* * *

Kai wheezed has he futilely waved an arm to try to clear the saturated grey smoke from the air. The entire plan was a disaster, especially after the Aizu forces had initially stormed the Choshuu-Satsuma forces. Overconfidence had ensnared the Aizu forces and they had overreached, enabling small groups of the rebels to break off and discover the Yuugetai forces that had been trying to sneak up on them. That was when things went to hell as the Yuugetai forces were beseiged and completely torn apart by the Gatling guns that the rebels had managed to set up on their backlines.

When Aizu had retreated towards the towns, the Choshuu-Satsuma forces had swarmed and had overtaken not only the heaviest defensive line, but also had brought their howitzers to bear to tear apart the back end of the town that the Shogunate-allied forces were trying to keep hidden for ambush purposes. A general retreat of all Shogunate forces had been called.

“ _Do not pull the trigger until you see the whites of their eyes!”_

Commander Kondou's words still burned in his ears, as Kai tried again to take a breath without the burning sensation in his lungs, but the smoke was much too thick. However, that did not obscure any sounds, as the crackling and snapping of buildings on fire, collapsing to the ground contributed to the additional sounds of far-off cannonade fire.

The enormous stone that he was crouched behind was a few paces away from the lone bridge that led into the town that Kondou and his units had been stationed in. Rebel forces had not yet even passed through the middle of the town, but he could feel the footsteps of hundreds of foot soldiers approaching. That bridge was the sole way in or out of the town from the other side of the river, and as Kondou had pulled his forces out, he had ordered them to strap a few barrels of gunpowder to it. The trigger was Chinese made and would automatically set fire to the twines that ran into each barrel once pulled. Strategically hidden so that even the most cautious of approaching rebels would not be able to detect it, the bridge would blow up seconds after he, Kai, pulled the trigger.

However, that bridge was also Kai's only way back into the outskirts of Kyoto without encountering the bulk of the forces that guarded the city's other entrances. His wife was still in the city, and though last he heard from her was a month ago, he did not want to leave her to the clutches of the rebels who controlled the place.

_We should not retreat!_

Damn the Shogun for calling for a retreat; damn the rebels for amassing more Western weaponry than they had; damn they had the numbers to easily overwhelm the rebels, but damn they did not even have enough musket balls for the rifles! It was his anger, anger at the world, at the Shogun, at the cowardice of the Shogunate forces for retreating when they should be pushing towards Kyoto with all of their might, at the rebels for instigating this stupid war, that kept his senses alert and honed that he felt and heard the approaching footsteps of hundred of men from the town.

Peeking out slightly, he saw their colorful banners, some spattered in blood and slightly ripped, but most still held high and proud. The soldiers were grim-faced, but all of them still looked eager for battle; to kill 'those damn Shogunate dogs'. Well, they weren't going to anytime soon; not if he, Kai, had anything to say about it, because despite his anger towards the injustice that faced him, he still had a duty towards his shinobi brothers and sisters to carry out.

_Come on, get on the damn bridge_ , he thought to himself, trying to will the rebel forces to keep moving as he saw them slow down as they approached the bridge. He saw the front forces look warily around towards the open path that was beyond the bridge and eye the bare trees for any signs of the enemy.

Kai knew for a fact that there were no enemy forces that were waiting in ambush for them except for him. All Shogunate-allied forces on this side of the town had retreated and were going to set up the next battlefield in the heavily wooded areas outside the town. All he had to do was delay the rebel forces to give the others time. Moments later, with his patience wearing just a bit thin, he saw the groups of soldiers parting and a couple of riders trotted through, one of them foreign-looking. The two riders were the first to approach the bridge and then the foot soldiers followed.

As soon as the first horse's hooves touched the other side of the bridge, Kai pulled the trigger and moments later, the bridge exploded in a spectacular fashion.

Charred pieces of wood wrapped in iron supports and bloody chunks of body parts flew in the air as horrendous screams followed the sounds of the explosion, but he did not stay to see what the gunpowder carnage had wrought. Instead, he was already sprinting away as fast as he could, leaping through small tree branches and managed to make it to the edge of the woods before the first rifle fire passed perilously close to his arm.

Spotting a low-hanging branch, he grabbed it and swung himself up just as the peppering of bullets followed his wake, hitting only tree trunk and ground. Swiftly and soundly bounding through tree branches, he quickly lost his pursuers and began to make his way towards where the others had retreated to.

Though he was still Oniwabanshuu, he knew that the only way he could hope to possibly rescue his wife from Kyoto was to get to Edo and request help from his _Okashira_. He was done supporting the Shinsengumi and their coward of a Shogun.

 

~*~*~*~


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 11.2**

_January 29_ _th_ _, 1868…_

 

Gouts of dirt, rocks, even slivers of metallic shards mixed in with bones sprayed through the air, ejected by the impact of cannon balls falling all over the wooded area just outside of Fushimi. Accompanying the sounds were the rapid but scattered staccato of rifle fire.

“There they are, the Shinsengumi!” a hoarse yet wildly excited shout rang out as the what was left of the members of the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Units rounded the bend, searching for rebel soldiers to shoot as they carved their way through the carnage already littering the snow-covered forest ground.

Immediately, several members of the unit fired their rifles at the incoming horde before running into the fray, determined to beat the pulp out of their enemies with whatever weapons they had left. Watching, and half-admiring their handiwork, Saitou strolled behind the men, the blood-red flag of the Shinsengumi casually lying on a shoulder. As the fight became more frenzied and pitched, he tossed the flag to the side and drew out his sword, catching one of the stray rebels who had managed to get past the first wave with a clang of metal on metal before viciously and almost effortlessly swiping in in a downward stroke, felling the rebel.

_Where the hell are you, Hitokiri Battousai_?!

The cigarette that was hanging out of his mouth was doing its work, but not as efficiently as he hoped it would – he and his men had been plowing through the forest, killing rebels left and right, searching for the Battousai for the past few hours. Their hunt for the infamous assassin was not only because of Saitou's own personal grudge against the Battousai, but also because he knew that they needed to take out the rebel's ace in order to actually have a chance at winning this particular skirmish.

“It's the Shinsengumi's dog, Saitou Hajime!” a shout diverted Saitou's attention from scouring the forested battlefield as another rebel simply ran up and attempted to kill him with a rather pathetic-looking swipe of his sword. He easily caught the man's arm and then merely pushed his own blade in a downward stroke, cutting the man open before discarding him to the ground. He continued onwards, pushing himself further into the fray, where in the distance, he could see some Aizu men and Shinsengumi members of the Sixth Unit and rebels having it all out...and it looked like the rebels were winning. Rebels never stood a chance whenever Shinsengumi were involved, and the only way they would survive was if the Battousai was amongst them.

A cannon ball landed close to a hill where he was, spraying scalding dirt up into the air, but Saitou continued his leisurely stroll down the path, occasionally cutting down half-dead rebels or those stupid and foolish enough to challenge him. _Come on, Battousai...show yourself..._

The fray suddenly cleared as the last of the men who had been involved were cut down – the rebels had won the tiny skirmish, and in the midst of the dead bodies, he paused as he saw a lone warrior, knelt on the ground in a finishing move, with his sword held out and away, covered quite liberally in blood. The rebel was clad in a dark grey hakama and dark blue gi, but it was the red hair and cross-shaped scar that gave away the identity of the rebel warrior – Himura Kenshin, the Hitokiri Battousai.

Saitou watched, almost in a dream, as the Battousai slowly picked himself off the ground; confident, cold, and most of all, ready to strike anyone dead--

“We've won! It's the Emperor's banner!”

He was not the only one to turn towards the elated shouts of joy as everyone within hearing of that shout paused in their clashes. _What_?!

“You're now rebels against His Majesty!” another rebel taunted.

The banner that came through the thick woods and into the thinner clearing was red with the golden symbol engraved onto it, and Saitou watched with dismay that it was a Choshuu clansman who was waving and carrying the Emperor's banner around. Cheers from the various clansmen aligned with the Emperor filled the forest. He watched with a half-curious expression as he saw the Battousai's back towards him slump a bit before the assassin turned and made his way down the small hill, walking away from not only him, but the rest of the battle that was fast dissolving into chaotic half-cheers.

“Himura Battousai!”

He saw the assassin pause before turning and looked at him with listless eyes. Saitou approached and took one last drag out of his cigarette before discarding the narcotic. Raising his sword so that its point was pointing straight towards the assassin, he said, “It doesn't end here.” Hell be damned if he was going to be denied his chance at a rematch against the Battousai. “Though the world may change, men like us, still live and die by the sword.”

Cold, almost uncaring eyes stared back at him, unmoved by his words. _Fight, damn you_ , he mentally willed. Then, the unthinkable happened – the Battousai merely turned so that he was fully facing him, before unexpectedly plunging his sword with a finality into the ground. Without a word, the Battousai turned from him and walked away on unsteady feet, as if dragging an unseen burden upon his shoulders.

Saitou stared at the retreating back of the assassin, baffled and uncomprehending as to _why_ what had happened had just happened. He felt his sword arm drop – his honor would never allow him to stab someone of such high calibre in the back. All he could think of was, _why_?

* * *

It was the middle of the third day of almost non-stop fighting and there was an acute burning sensation in Susumu's lungs as he ran along the thin but sturdy branches of the trees. There was a way out of this chaos, and he needed to get back to Hijikata before the lines were closed. Running on the ground was not an option, not if he wanted to get killed by stray rifle fire, rebel swords, cannon ball explosion, or hell, even a random explosion of gunpowder grenade – thus his treetop running.

It was not the most elegant way to travel, but it was fast—he stopped and crouched on one of the branches as he spotted an abandoned cart that had some broken crates. One of the crates spilled to the side had gunpowder grenades and there was no one within sight of him that looked to be approaching it. Quickly making the decision, he leapt down and rolled to absorb his fall before coming up in a crouch, scanning his surroundings.

The sounds of men fighting were still close along with the whistling of cannon balls through the air and their subsequent detonation into the ground, but there was no one who had witnessed his landing. He silently snuck towards the crate and took a few of the grenades, shoving them into the various pocket places on himself before searching some more for at least two flint stones that he could use to ignite the dangerous items. Spotting the dead driver of the cart, he roughly shoved the body over, holding his breath as some of the unfrozen liquid of decaying defecation and blood spilled out of the body.

Searching the body's pockets, he felt something solid in one of them and pulled the objects out – the flint stones that he needed. Putting the stones away, he took one last look around and then quickly sprinted to the nearest tree, using all of his strength to climb up the tree and get back onto the branches. Running as fast as he could, he continued back towards where he had last seen Hijikata and the rest of the First and Seventh Units that had survived the disaster at the towns' attempted ambush.

The bright blue over-jackets of the Shinsengumi made them easily identifiable in the battlefield, even in this thick forest of bamboo and trees, and within a few seconds, he saw the tall, imposing form of Hijikata fighting back-to-back with Okita as they fended off several rebels that had attempted to storm and overrun the little hill they had commandeered. He also saw Tetsu a few ways off, swinging the butt of a rifle around, clocking a rebel who had tried to sneak up on the backside of the hill. A few Aizu stragglers were also fighting with other Shinsengumi forces, keeping the west side of the hill at bay. The most surprising thing of all was that he saw the foreign-adviser, Creighton, crouched on the ground, almost dug into a small pit, firing his pistol at any person who was coming close and that no others could engage.

Taking out two of his grenades, he struck both fuses with the stones and lobbed them with all of his strength at the rebel horde. The explosives did the trick and scattered the horde as several people looked up to see him leaping down to the ground. Wasting no time, he hurried to Hijikata and said, “There is a way out but we have to go, now.”

“Where?” Hijikata demanded.

“To the north-east,” he answered. “I could find no way to get us towards Kondou- _kyoukuchou_ or Saitou _-kumichou_ for the matter. _”_

“Damn,” he heard the vice-commander mutter.

“Go, Hijikata-dono,” the foreign-adviser unexpectedly said as he hurriedly reloaded his pistol. “I will hold this line for you. Spy, do you have anymore grenades?”

“Yes,” Susumu answered, but did not hand the grenades over; he would not until he got an order from Hijikata to. He didn't trust the foreigner, especially not after what had happened yesterday and he was sure that someone had sold them out. They had too many forces to have been routed by the rebels. He however, had no proof of the possibility that the foreigner had told the rebels of their plan, and thus could not even confirm to Hijikata his suspicions.

However, it seemed that Hijikata had no such reservations about the possible betrayal of the foreign-adviser and said, “Give the man the grenades, Yamazaki.”

He duly handed over the grenades, just as Hijikata blew a piercing whistle and gestured for them to move back. Susumu turned from the foreigner and hurried towards the front of the group, noting that at least Okita had forcibly grabbed Tetsu and dragged him along with the retreating men.

This time, he stayed on the ground, hoping that the whistling of cannon balls flying through the air would not be the last thing he heard before he was killed. With his short blade out, it was he and another member of the Seventh Unit who first encountered several rebels waving the Emperor's flag emerging from another hill. However the rebels did not even attempt to charge them and merely taunted them as they passed.

It was almost unbelievable, yet it was true; the Emperor's banner could only be held and carried with the permission of the Emperor himself, and he had aligned himself with the Choshuu-Satsuma clansmen. The thought made him almost despair, but he vowed to pushed on, and hopefully, they could rally at Osaka and the Shogun would have the man power to push back and storm Kyoto to free the Emperor in a second attempt.

He and most of the others in the area were suddenly thrown to the ground by the resulting force of an enormous explosion that ripped through the place. A gust of hot wind blew past, neatly singeing the back of his neck as he spat out dirt and looked up to see a wave of fire roll above him, wreathing the forest in flames. Chancing a look back, he saw that the hill that had been defended by what was left of the Shinsengumi and Aizu forces was a hill no more. All that was left was a smoking black crater.

He heard someone groan near him and saw that Tetsu had landed near him. Wasting no more time, he pushed himself up and grabbed his friend by the arm to get him up. They needed to move before the rebels could recover. “Hey kid!” he shouted, slapping his friend in the face in an effort to get him to come to his senses. “Get moving!”

The slap worked as he saw Tetsu blink furiously, but Susumu did not wait and yanked his friend with him as others shook themselves off from the shock of the explosion and realized that this was their only chance to escape without possibly dying from a stray shot. The burning sensation in his lungs increased again as he put himself at a full run, half-dragging Tetsu, but with the flames licking up trees and broken bodies, the smoke increased and made it hard for him to see. He had to get up onto the branches that had not been touched yet so he could guide his comrades out of the battlefield.

“Keep going!” he shouted to Tetsu as he let go and gave a quick prayer to kami-sama before he turned slightly to run up a burning bark of a tree, using the momentum to snatch a flaming branch and swung himself up and over the fire layer of branches. Here, where the smoke was still present, but thinner, he could see the route they needed to take and could see the faint outlines of the Shinsengumi, trailing after Tetsu who had the lead.

“Follow my voice!” he shouted down at them, knowing that rebels could hear him and follow them out of the inferno. He didn't care – they could deal with the rebels later – right now, getting his friends out was first and foremost on his mind. They were not going to die, not today.

Leaping from branch to branch, he shouted directions, watching not only as his friend and the other Shinsengumi members followed, but also where it might look like tree branches would fall and block their routes. Tree by tree, Susumu guided them out of the fiery hell and towards freedom. If they could get to Osaka, they could enlist the Lord of Osaka's aid, and _maybe_ , just maybe they could have a chance to strike back.

Slowly, as it dawned on him, he realized that whomever would make it out of this burning forest could well be what remained of the Shinsengumi... no... what remained of the Shogunate's forces who had tried to retake Kyoto to free the Emperor from the rebel influence.

 

_By January 30 th of the Western reckoning, Shogunate forces had fled and most retreated to the outskirts of Osaka castle. The attempted rally at Osaka fell through and the forces were forced to continue their retreat – some by ship, others by land._

 

_What was left of the Shinsengumi never made it to Osaka. Split amongst themselves due to differentiating opinions along with the skirmishes that plagued them, the Shinsengumi forces scattered during the retreats. Commander Kondou took over half of the remaining Shinsengumi forces towards Koshuu-Katsuunuma while Hijikata and the rest retreated towards the coastlines, both groups trying to make their way towards Edo._

 

~*~*~*~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Historically, Yamazaki Susumu was supposed to have died at Toba-Fushimi via drowning. I didn't kill him in this story because he was Shadow Chaser's favorite character and since Shadow Chaser has not offed some of my favorites, I'm repaying the favor. You also might recognize Saitou's part in the 3rd chapter - that's taken from the Rurouni Kenshin live action movie's beginning, which depicts a part of the Toba-Fushimi battlefield.


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